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Badass mech fights and the horrors of war? Gundam and its poor messaging

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Credit to u/Rodrigs99

It’s the 40th anniversary of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series. A user on Reddit celebrated by posting the above image that he created. It sparked a realization in me: the messaging in the majority of Gundam series is ineffective. The stories are generally fine and each series is enjoyable in its own, but the yarn it tries to spin about the horrors of war just doesn’t work.

Reddit user Rodrigs99 unintentionally makes the point in the sentence on the bottom by so easily mentioning both the “badass mech fights” and “horrors of war” at the same time. The explicit message the story tries to tell is that war is hell, ruining everything that it touches. On the other hand, it glorifies the violence. There are good and bad people on both sides of the war, but our heroes are big damn heroes engaging in big damn violence that is entertaining as all hell. If war is hell, it’s also a hell of a war. Continue reading “Badass mech fights and the horrors of war? Gundam and its poor messaging” →

Gundam NT leans – and falls over

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It’s funny how I’ve written about how Dragon Ball Super: Broly has managed to succeed by leaning into, essentially, the Dragon Ballness of Dragon Ball but now find myself criticizing Gundam NT for attempting to tap into the Gundamness of the Gundam franchise. It’s about understanding what works and what doesn’t. It’s about understanding what fans actually enjoy and what doesn’t – despite the fact that some writers might want to go in that direction.
Continue reading “Gundam NT leans – and falls over” →

Why is Double Dragon IV so bad?

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The acquisition of Technos Japan’s IP by Arc System Works was a move celebrated by fans of brawler games. After all, that meant that Double Dragon and River City Ransom were now in the hands of the developer of the Guilty Gear series and Dragon Ball FighterZ – the current (as of February 2019) most popular fighting game out there. This was meant to be a perfect marriage.

So what went wrong with Double Dragon IV? Continue reading “Why is Double Dragon IV so bad?” →

Krull

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It’s pretty clear that director Peter Yates wasn’t setting out to make a cult classic, but in retrospect Krull has all the makings of one. It’s a 1980’s film that blends together fantasy with some scifi aesthetics. The story is unfocused and could have been finished in half the running time. It’s also pretty forgettable after one viewing.

I’ll be honest. I didn’t like it. I found it dull. But there’s still a certain charm to it. Continue reading “Krull” →

Going Big by Focusing on the Little Things in Dragon Ball Super: Broly

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If you think about it, it’s ironic that the Dragon Ball franchise even bothers with movies. The idea of a film based off of a TV series is to go bigger. But Dragon Ball Super is already big. By design it swings for the fences every time, with as many episodes as necessary given to any big fight. What can a movie do that the show can’t already?

Focus. Apparently a 100 minute running time can do wonders for something like Dragon Ball. Continue reading “Going Big by Focusing on the Little Things in Dragon Ball Super: Broly” →

Mega Man 11 and Excess in Design

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After ten installments in the main franchise along with an extra stop on the SNES to include a fan favorite character, multiple portable iterations, an enhanced remake on a satellite service as well as one on a poor selling hand-held, eight installments of a darker and edgier yet similar series along with a remake of the first and a few handheld titles, four sequels to that series, and yet another two sequels that series, you’d think that Capcom would have the Mega Man series down to a science by now. What elements in a Mega Man game are, in short, the Mega Man-est. Not to mention the end results of the various experiments.

Capcom determined this back in 2008 when they released Mega Man 9 on then-current consoles. After years of bloat and experimentation, they returned Mega Man back to his basic elements: jump, shoot, collect and use Robot Master weapons, and have an occasional extra item or two. 9 is arguably in consideration for best game in the classic Mega Man series of games. It returned to basic functions and was designed tightly around that.

Mega Man 10 was a departure from that, somehow. Continue reading “Mega Man 11 and Excess in Design” →

Into the Spider-Verse’s too many spiders and not enough ‘verse

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 The takeaway from Sony’s surprising hit in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, aside from the fact that it managed to both be an enjoyable spectacle as well as have heart, is that anyone can now be Spider-Man. While kids were always able to project themselves onto Peter Parker at some basic level due to his being relatable and the fact that the white guy is obscured in a giant body sock, there was a barrier for non-males and non-white people because Peter Parker is portrayed in the comic and all subsequent media as a white man. Looking at the costumed crime fighter, anyone can be Spider-Man. Looking at Peter Parker, only certain people look the part. Continue reading “Into the Spider-Verse’s too many spiders and not enough ‘verse” →